Excerpt:

I was afraid of getting too excited as I left Ms. Severance’s class that day, but I dared to think that now I could be happy about waking up and coming to school. I could show up for Ms. Severance. I could let her know how much I loved the books we read, the words she taught us, and even her North American history assignments.

And now that the Lenore nightmare looked like it was coming to an end, what about the rest of the picture? Did I have any friends? Did Sarah still like me? It’s easier to forgive than to ask for forgiveness. But she never seemed to be mad at me. No, I didn’t have to ask her to forgive me for what happened with Lenore. I just had to talk with her.

I saw a girl named Marin walking down the hall. She was friends with Sarah. Here was an opportunity. I would talk to her. If I wanted friends, I’d have to find a way to be a friend.

"Marin," I almost whispered as she passed.

"Did you say my name?" She stopped and looked at me.

"I—I saw the stained-glass project your team did in art class," I stammered. "We’re doing them next week," and Ms. Hutton showed us the one you did as an example."

"The ones our class did, you mean?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"No, the one you did by yourself. She showed us all the details on it and said it was one of the best ones she’d ever seen. Did she tell you that?"

"No," Marin said shyly.

 "Well, it was really good," I said, starting to walk away. Clearly what I said had made Marian uncomfortable.

"Wait!" she called, then caught up with me. "I’m friends with Sarah Smythe. We’re in Bye Bye Birdie together. She told me about what happened, and she said—Lenore Nielson told her why you pushed her."

"She did?"

"Lenore knew it was because she said your dad was really sick." Marian looked away and murmured, "I felt bad for you. So did Sarah. We thought we might have done the same thing."

"You put yourself in my shoes," I said. "That’s what Ms. Severance always says."

"Yeah."

"I don’t usually push people," I added.

"I didn’t think you did! How is your dad feeling?" She asked.

"Much better," I said. "Thank you for asking."

We headed off for our classes. I didn’t even care if I was late.